Published: October 10, 2008 09:30 am      

Local officials question state development planning

CUMBERLAND — Governor Martin O’Malley’s Task Force on the Future for Growth and Development and Maryland’s effort to develop a statewide development plan has come under scrutiny by local planners.

Phil Hager, Allegany County planning coordinator, and David Umling, planner for the city of Cumberland, both said this week they are concerned about the lack of information about a report to be delivered to O’Malley and state lawmakers by Dec. 1.

The 21-member task force, which first met in January, is to study a wide range of smart growth and land use issues affecting the state. The panel’s recommendations also are to include parameters for the development of a statewide development plan.

Hager said while a statewide plan is “desperately” needed, the process the state has used has limited public outreach and public input as well as input from local planners, government officials and the development community. Hager reported Monday at the Allegany County Planning and Zoning Commission public work session that the state is “breaking their own rules” by rushing through a plan without such input and that lack of input shows “hypocrisy has reached new limits.”

“It doesn’t bode well for a final comprehensive development plan,” Hager said.

Hager said a state plan “calls for now growth in Allegany County” on an almost literal basis. After attending a listening session Sept. 25 in Hagerstown, sponsored by the Maryland Department of Planning, Hager said the plans call for only 1,134 new housing units to be constructed in the foreseeable future in all of Allegany County and its municipalities.

Hager said the state’s projections are significantly different than what the county has used and that state officials have refused to engage in dialogue even to discuss those differences.

The idea of being able to put together a statewide plan in less than a year is “incomprehensibly ridiculous,” Hager said, and state officials are “having to cut corners and put things together without coordination with local planners.”

Umling, too, said there is confusion about the task force and the statewide plan, where the lines are separated and where they blur and how local governments fit into the equation. Umling also attended the Hagerstown listening session.

“I would have liked to have commented on (the plan but) it’s hard to know what to comment if you don’t know what they’re proposing to do,” Umling said in a phone interview Thursday. “All we got (Sept. 25) were some general goals that are OK in principal. I’m concerned about how these things are translated into public policy.”

MDP Secretary Richard E. Hall, in an interview Wednesday, said he was “a little disappointed to hear the negativity.” He said the listening sessions were “truth in advertising” and “by design, they were limited, upfront discussion. I gave a pretty short presentation. We certainly want to do a lot more.”

Hall called Hager’s comments on the state development plan “premature” and that “we haven’t started a public input process” on the issue yet.

“Part of the task force’s charge is to outline parameters for a state development plan,” Hall said. “By no means are we cooking something up at the state.”

He said there will be a “long and deliberate input and feedback process” beginning early next year. The idea, Hall said, is to “put out a sketch plan, something for people to react to, to get the discussion going.”

Hager said he was concerned the task force failed to have representation from any one entity west of Frederick County. Hall said Western Maryland officials are welcome to attend the weekly meetings in Baltimore, but he addressed how likely that scenario is.

“I certainly would argue that both (Allegany and Garrett) counties have significant opportunity to be involved,” Hall said.

Umling, however, noted it’s “very hard” to attend meetings in Baltimore.

“It’s a big commitment of time and you don’t know if you’re going to learn anything at those meetings,” Umling said, “so why would you invest the time? I’m concerned about what may come out of the Smart Growth Task Force.”

Hall will be among O’Malley’s cabinet members in Cumberland today as the Queen City is designated “Capital for a Day.” Local officials intend to bring up the issue if time permits.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.